The Congress on Friday said that the latest slump in growth of India’s Gross Domestic Product was a “Modi-made disaster” and demanded a white paper on “shrinking economy and rising frauds”.
The principal Opposition party also demanded that a ‘financial emergency’ be declared, without elaborating.
The Congress also claimed that the truth about the economy could not be hidden by “headline management”.
“Convenient time to hold a PC and attempt headline manipulation, but you can’t hide from the truth Madam FM Nirmala Sitharaman,” the Congress party’s official handle tweeted, questioning the timing of the Finance Minister’s press conference on merger of public sector banks, just before the first-quarter GDP numbers were released.
“As predicted, GDP growth is lower - 5 pc in Q1 of 2019-20 (lowest in 5 years),” tweeted the party.
“GDP growth tanks to 5 pc. Demonetisation, hasty GST, and incompetence continue to show results. Slump is not due to global issues. It is a pure ‘Modi-made’ disaster,” Congress spokesperson Rajeev Gowda tweeted, using the hashtag “ModiHaiToMandiHai”.
“Can economy get any worse and new distractions emerge? Keep your seat belts on,” Mr. Gowda added.
Congress’s chief spokesperson Randeep Surjewala asserted in a statement that financial mismanagement and a state of economic emergency “prevails and pervades the entire economy”.
“There is complete economic downturn, virtual shutting of manufacturing, lagging exports and surging imports, besides loss of millions of jobs in all sectors. The myopic BJP government is pre-occupied in shoddy headline management and cover up job, instead of addressing the structural issues ailing the economy. This is a classic case of quacks turning into surgeons. Naturally, patients will be dead before you even know,” he said.
Addressing a press conference, Congress spokespersons Jaiveer Shergill and Gourav Vallabh asserted that ministers’ statements about the economy were akin to “a doctor who was refusing to admit that his patient is unwell”.
“The BJP has been consistently projecting that ‘all is well’ with the economy but now official GDP figures prove beyond doubt that ‘all-economy is in the well’,” Mr. Shergill said and added, “the government should declare a financial emergency”.
“Ministers have been saying these are seasonal fluctuations. Tell us which seasonal fluctuations show falling GDP for back-to-back five quarters. This is a classic case of recession,” asserted Mr. Vallabh who also claimed that the economy had become more vulnerable because of rising bank frauds.
Commenting on a latest RBI report on bank frauds, Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra attacked the government and wondered who was the guarantor allowing such “big bank frauds”.
“Banks have been duped of ₹72,000 crore. But, who is the guarantor who is allowing such big bank frauds to occur,” tweeted Ms. Vadra.
